The day seems to be on the road to success, with a huge number of speed checks taking place across the country and a number of motorists being caught out for speeding.

Between 7 o'clock this morning and 4:30 this evening Gardaí had checked the speed of 66,084 vehicles on Irish roads.

311 people (about 0.5pc) were found to be driving above the speed limit after these checks.

One driver was found to be travelling at 108Km/h in a 60Km/h zone near Bundoran, Co Donegal.

Another motorist was clocked as driving 148Km/h in a 100Km/h zone near Glasson, Co Meath.

Gardaí are encouraging motorists to slow down

Gardaí are out in force on the nation's roads and had already checked the speed of 18,000 drivers by 10:45am.

Speed vans, in-car speed detection systems and handheld speed detection devices have all been deployed across the country.

The operation is running from 7am this morning to 7am this evening.

Gardaí are also running a significant social media campaign under the #Thumbsup. Motorists are being encouraged to send photos of themselves with the hashtag in order to support the day. Many have risen to the occasion: